Jump to main content or area navigation.

Contact Us

Technology Transfer Network / NAAQS
Ozone Implementation

Notice of Proposed Actions on Attainment Demonstrations for the One-Hour National Ambient Air Quality Standards for Ozone

Information provided for informational purposes onlyNote: EPA no longer updates this information, but it may be useful as a reference or resource.

Federal Register Document





[Federal Register: December 16, 1999 (Volume 64, Number 241)]

[Proposed Rules]               

[Page 70317-70319]

From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

[DOCID:fr16de99-21]                         

[[Page 70317]]
_______________________________________________________________________

Part II

Environmental Protection Agency
_______________________________________________________________________

40 CFR Part 52

Approval and Promulgation of Implementation Plans; One-Hour Ozone 

Attainment Demonstration for Various State's Ozone Nonattainment Areas; 

Proposed Rules

[[Page 70318]]

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 52

[FRL-6501-7]


Notice of Proposed Actions on Attainment Demonstrations for the 

One-Hour National Ambient Air Quality Standards for Ozone

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of proposed actions.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: This document announces that, elsewhere in today's Federal 

Register, EPA is proposing individually to approve or conditionally 

approve, and, in the alternative, to disapprove attainment 

demonstration State implementation plans (SIPs or plans) for ten areas 

in the eastern United States that are not in attainment of the 1-hour 

health and welfare-based national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS 

or standard) for ground-level ozone. These areas are designated as 

nonattainment for the ozone standard. The SIP demonstrations were 

prepared and forwarded to EPA from States and the District of Columbia 

(D.C.) where the nonattainment areas are located. They were submitted 

to meet the requirements of Title I of the Clean Air Act (CAA). The 

nonattainment areas on which EPA is proposing action are listed in the 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section according to the EPA Regional Office 

in which they are located.



FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: General questions concerning this 

document should be directed to Sharon Reinders, (919) 541-5284. Your 

comments or questions about a specific area should be directed to the 

EPA Regional Office representative identified in the SUPPLEMENTARY 

section. Information on how to contact the Regional Office appears in 

the document for each individual area.



SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The nonattainment areas on which EPA is 

proposing action are listed in the following according to the EPA 

Regional Office in which they are located:

Region I--Greater Connecticut (CT)

    The Connecticut portion of the New York-Northern New Jersey-Long 

Island area Springfield (Western Massachusetts) (MA).

Region II--New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island (NY-NJ-CT)

    The New Jersey portion of the Philadelphia-Wilmington-Trenton area.

Region III--Baltimore (MD)

    Philadelphia-Wilmington-Trenton (PA-NJ-DE-MD) Metropolitan 

Washington (DC-MD-VA).

Region IV--Atlanta (GA)

Region V--Milwaukee-Racine (WI)

    Chicago-Gary-Lake County (IL-IN).

Region VI--Houston-Galveston-Brazoria (TX)

    Your comments or questions about a specific area should be directed 

to the EPA Regional Office representative identified as follows:

Regional Offices

Region I--Richard Burkhart (617) 918-1664,

Region II--Paul Truchan (212) 637-4249 or Kirk Wieber (212) 637-3381,

Region III--Dave Arnold (215) 814-2172,

Region IV--Scott Martin (404) 562-9036,

Region V--Edward Doty (312) 886-6057 or Michael Leslie (312) 353-6680,

Region VI--Guy Donaldson (214) 665-7242.



    The CAA and several guidance memoranda issued earlier by EPA 

provide relevant background information for the specific rulemaking 

proposals appearing in today's Federal Register. The important CAA 

sections and EPA guidance are described below and in the documents on 

individual areas elsewhere in today's Federal Register.

    In 1990, Congress amended the CAA to address, among other things, 

continued nonattainment of the ground-level ozone NAAQS. Public Law     

  101-549, 104 Stat. 2399 codified at 42 U.S.C., 7401-7671q (1991). The 

CAA, as amended, divides 1-hour ozone nonattainment areas into, in 

general, five classifications based on ozone air quality concentrations 

(marginal, moderate, serious, severe, and extreme nonattainment); and 

establishes specific requirements, including SIP submittal and 

attainment dates, for each classification. CAA sections 107(d)(1)(C) 

and (4), and 181.

    The CAA also requires States to submit a SIP to provide for 

attainment of the 1-hour ozone standard which includes a demonstration 

of attainment (including air quality modeling) for the nonattainment 

area, as well as emission control measures needed to attain by the 

attainment date. CAA section 182(c)(2)(A) and (d). In addition, the CAA 

requires States to submit a SIP for serious and severe nonattainment 

areas which provide for emissions reductions of 9 percent from their 

baseline emissions for each 3-year period from 1997 until the area's 

attainment date (9 percent rate-of-progress SIPs). The CAA section 

182(c)(2)(B) and (d) establishes November 15, 1994, as the required 

date for these SIP submittals.

    Notwithstanding significant efforts by the States, EPA determined 

that the States were not able to meet the November 15, 1994 deadline 

for the required SIP submissions because of the complexity of the ozone 

problem and the recognition that intrastate emissions reductions alone 

would not be sufficient to reach attainment. On March 2, 1995, EPA 

Assistant Administrator Mary D. Nichols sent a memorandum to EPA 

Regional Administrators indicating that many States had been unable to 

adopt and submit attainment and 9 percent rate of progress SIPs within 

the deadlines prescribed by the CAA due to interstate ozone transport 

beyond their control. The March 2, 1995 memorandum called for a 

collaborative process among the States in the eastern half of the 

country to evaluate and address transport of ozone and its precursors. 

This memorandum led to the formation of the Ozone Transport Assessment 

Group (OTAG).<SUP>1</SUP> After a comprehensive study of air pollution 

transport in the eastern United States, OTAG concluded that transport 

of ozone and its precursors is significant and should be reduced 

regionally to enable States in the eastern half of the country to 

attain the ozone NAAQS. To allow time for the OTAG study to be 

addressed in the individual nonattainment area SIPs, EPA provided until 

April 1998 to submit certain portions of the attainment demonstration 

and 9 percent rate-of-progress SIPs. The States generally submitted the 

SIPs between April and October 1998; some States are still submitting 

additional revisions as described in the individual proposed rulemaking 

actions.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------



    \1\ Letter from Mary A. Gade, Director, State of Illinois 

Environmental Protection Agency to Environmental Commissioners of 

States (ECOS) Member, dated April 13, 1995.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------



    Six environmental organizations have filed a complaint in U.S. 

District Court regarding EPA's failure to promulgate a Federal 

implementation plan (FIP) for each of these areas in the absence of 

fully approved attainment demonstrations for the areas. In response to 

that lawsuit, EPA has entered into a consent decree to settle these 

claims. The consent decree provides a framework for further action 

regarding the ozone attainment demonstrations for these areas and 

establishes dates for future EPA



[[Page 70319]]



rulemaking action. In particular, the consent decree establishes dates 

by which EPA is to determine the adequacy of the motor vehicle emission 

budgets associated with the attainment demonstrations for the areas and 

deadlines by which EPA is to promulgate FIPs for areas for which it has 

not approved attainment demonstration and 9 percent rate-of-progress 

SIPs. (A copy of the consent decree is being placed in the dockets for 

the proposals regarding the attainment demonstrations.) The consent 

decree, which is being lodged with the United States District Court for 

the District of Columbia, is still subject to the public notice and 

comment provisions of section 113(g) of the CAA. (A document regarding 

the section 113(g) process for the consent decree will be published 

separately in the Federal Register.)

    Consistent with the dates in the consent decree, EPA is moving 

forward in a coordinated fashion to take action on the attainment plans 

for each of the 10 areas identified above. The EPA's proposals on the 

attainment plans are a critical next step in ensuring that each of 

these areas has in place a complete plan for achieving air quality 

meeting the 1-hour ozone standard. The EPA intends to take final action 

on elements of each of these plans during the next year.

    The EPA's actions today reflect consistent application of EPA 

policies on motor vehicle emission budgets, credits for interstate 

nitrogen oxide reductions, and the need for additional emissions 

reductions, as well as other issues. These policies are discussed in 

detail in the documents for each area which appear elsewhere in today's 

Federal Register. The application of these policies to the plans for 

individual areas is discussed in the individual documents for each 

area.



Dated: December 1, 1999.

Robert Perciasepe,

Assistant Administrator for Air and Radiation.

[FR Doc. 99-31708 Filed 12-15-99; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6560-50-P


Jump to main content.